Monday, August 31, 2015

Religions are Making the Moral Argument in Support of Climate Action

In stark contrast to the disagreements that tear us apart, the world's religions appear to have coalesced around the understanding that we need to care for creation. Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and others have all made moral arguments in support of climate action.
Pope Francis has championed the battle against climate change via an Environmental Encyclical, and Muslim leaders across the world have echoed the moral call to engage with an Islamic Climate Declaration.

Here is an article that reviews some of the moral arguments:
Pope Francis acknowledged, that climate change is real. He also said that human behaviour must change to ensure that the world’s poor don’t suffer due to the consumption of the rich. The Islamic Climate Declaration recognizes the scientific consensus on climate change is to stabilize greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere so that global warming does not exceed 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels. The declaration is clear that a 1.5 degree Celsius warming would be preferable. It calls on people and leaders of all nations to aim to phase out greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible and commit themselves to 100% renewable energy at the earliest possible.

In a recent interview to American science magazine Popular Science, climate scientist Katherine Hayhoe explained why religion is backing the fight against climate change. “Science can tell us why climate change is happening, and what might happen next,” she said. “But what we should do about it isn’t a science question. It’s a question of values.”

The Holy See and Islamic leaders have not been the first moral authorities to caution against climate change. Ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit in September 2014, the World Council of Churches and Religions for Peace, both prominent interfaith organisations, held their own summit to push for progress at the negotiations in Lima that December and after. In previous years Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh leaders have declared their war on climate change.

Hindu Declaration on Climate Change

Issued at the Parliament of World Religions in Australia in 2009, the Hindu Declaration on Climate Change drew on the Hindu tradition that links man to nature through physical, psychological and spiritual bonds. “The nations of the world have yet to agree upon a plan to ameliorate man's contribution to this complex change,” the declaration stated. “This is largely due to powerful forces in some nations which oppose any such attempt, challenging the very concept that unnatural climate change is occurring. Hindus everywhere should work toward an international consensus.” Issued just as the Copenhagen round of the Conference of Parties was beginning, the declaration had little impact on the talks that ended with a weak agreement and little binding action.

Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change

In 2009, the Dalai Lama was the first person to sign the Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change that endorsed the catastrophic tipping points of global warming. NASA climatologists had predicted that the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was 350 parts per million, a line that has already been breached. In May this year, atmospheric carbon crossed 400 ppm for the first time.

“We are challenged not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to remove large quantities of carbon gas already present in the atmosphere,” the Buddhist declaration said. It also emphasised the need to change the priorities of the world economies. “The key to happiness is contentment rather than an ever-increasing abundance of goods. The compulsion to consume more and more is an expression of craving, the very thing the Buddha pinpointed as the root cause of suffering.”

The Dalai Lama has gone even further to say that the focus in Tibet, which is stuck in a losing battle for independence, should be climate change and not politics.

Sikh Statement on Climate Change

“Our Mother Earth, Mata Dharat, has gone through undeniable changes at the hands of humans. It is abundantly clear that our action has caused great damage to the atmosphere and is projected to cause even more damage if left unhandled,” said a statement released by a group called EcoSikh in September 2014. Calling on Sikhs to be the frontrunners of change and inviting the tenet of selfless service, the group asked Sikhs to reduce their carbon footprints, recycle, invest in renewable technologies and also put pressure on governments to take action to mitigate carbon emissions.

Orthodox Christians, Protestants, Baha’I and Jewish leaders have, in their turn, accepted the science of climate change and called on the faithful to save the earth. What the Pope and Islamic leaders have added is the influence of over 1.2 billion Roman Catholics and 1.6 million Muslims worldwide, which is almost half the world’s population. For now, climate change seems to be the one science that world religions don’t seem to have a problem with, whether it will make a difference or not at the “make-or-break” Paris negotiations in December.

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Stewardship of the Environment

We take a leadership role in our communities. As part of the Anglican Communion, we encourage Anglicans to support sustainable environmental practices as individuals in their daily lives and throughout their communities. Click here for more information about our work.

Mandate

The Stewardship of the Environment Committee is responsible to the Anglican Diocese of Montreal for increasing awareness of our inter-dependence with God's environment and through advice, consultation and support, to foster the improvement of our relationship with the environment.

Within this mandate, the Committee has the following long-term objectives: To provide education and support to the Diocese in developing public positions on environmental issues;

To act as a liaison between the Diocese of Montreal and the National Church on environmental issues;

To act as a liaison between the Diocese of Montreal and civil society and religious organizations that deal with environmental issues;

To assist, with similar groups in other denominations and religions in promoting stewardship of the environment at the municipal, provincial and federal levels; To act as a consultative group to the Diocese and to the parishes on environmental issues; and

To act as a resource group to the parishes of the Diocese in promoting actions within the parish that reduces their impact on the physical environment.

Committee Members

Mr. Richard Matthews, is a former warden at St. Philip's Church. He is the chair and social media coordinator for the Stewardship of the Environment Committee. He spearheaded the fossil fuel divestment motion in the Anglican Diocese of Montreal. He also developed and co-facilitated a course called Ecology and Spirituality. Richard is the owner of The Green Market Oracle and the President of Small Business Consulting (SBC). He is a widely published writer and his articles have appeared in dozens of publications including Scientific American. He has contributed to a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report on the Green Economy in Action. He lives with his wife and two children in Montreal.

Dr. Brooke Struck is a member of St. Philip's Church where he sings in the choir. His doctoral research in philosophy, undertaken at the University of Guelph, focused on the notion of objectivity in science, and how science is related to other forms of cultural practice. He presently works as a science policy analyst at Science-Metrix, a research-program evaluation firm in Montreal. He has previously worked in science policy analysis for Environment Canada, and also co-founded the Philopolis festival series, which provides a space for discussing the intersection between ideas in academic philosophy and present-day issues of society, culture and politics.

Mr. Jeffrey Mackie is the verger and an active member of Christ Church Cathedral. He is an internationally published writer and also hosts a literary program at CKUT. He is also very active politically and currently sits on the Verdun executive of Projet Montreal. In 2012 he ran provincially for the Green Party of Quebec.